Reducing kitchen waste

With most South African homes throwing out over 2kgs of waste created in their kitchens each day, dealing with how to reduce this waste in an environmentally friendly way has become a burning issue for the planet and its occupants, says Adrian Goslett, CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa.

Statistics show that as much as 80% of household waste can be re-used or recycled, but unfortunately many of that waste ends up in land-fills. The methane that is produced from decomposing food waste in a land-fill, which accounts for approximately 20% of household waste, is 21 times more harmful to the environment than the effects of carbon-dioxide emissions, which is a major contributor to the global climate change. This is reason enough to rethink kitchen wastage and methods used to dispose of it.

“One option that can be used to reduce kitchen waste is by installing a disposal unit, which can reduce the amount of waste that is thrown into bins. Other ways to reduce the food waste is by composting and reusing it in the garden,” says Goslett, “This can either be in a traditional compost heap or by means of an earthworm farm. Using organic compost will also reduce the need for harmful chemical fertilisers and pesticides, as it inhibits certain plant diseases by building the plant’s immunity.”

According to Goslett, other items of kitchen waste that are not organic should be separated into recyclable and non-recyclable goods. This will also minimise the amount of waste that takes up space in South Africa’s land-fills, which are already almost at their maximum capacity. Although most South African municipalities do not collect recyclable goods separately, many areas have conveniently placed recycling centres where homeowners can drop off these items.

RUSTENBURG HERALD13 APRIL 2012

I’m not convinced about the “conveniently placed recycling centres”. Maybe in the bigger cities it is easier….